Nisha Gopalan is the Senior Overnight Assignment Editor for Investopedia News. She is an award-winning financial journalist who has worked in London, where she is currently based, and Hong Kong. She previously worked at The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.
U.S. stock futures are higher as investors await monthly jobs data and digest a slew of earnings reports; Apple (AAPL) shares are rallying following the tech giant’s better-than-expected earnings and announcement of a record buyback; fellow Dow component Amgen (AMGN) is surging on its earnings beat and progress in its experimental weight-loss-drug MariTide, news that is dragging down stocks in rivals Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY); Cloudflare is sharply lower after providing a disappointing sales outlook; and Japan’s Sony Group (SONY) and private-equity firm Apollo Global Management have reportedly submitted an all-cash $26 billion offer for Paramount Global (PARA). Here’s what investors need to know today.
Apple (AAPL) shares were more than 6% higher in premarket trading about two hours before the opening bell, after the company announced better-than-expected earnings, a $110 billion stock buyback program that is reportedly the largest-ever in the U.S., and sales growth projections for the current quarter. The tech giant, which posted a 4.3% fall in sales over the year for the January-to-March period, projected overall sales growth in the current quarter would be in the “low single digits” percentage-wise. CEO Tim Cook said he remained optimistic about China after the company posted a decline in quarterly sales there, although he noted executives “clearly have work there to do.” He also said he was “very bullish” about prospects for generative artificial intelligence but gave no details on how AI would be used in iPhones. Meanwhile, investors will also be preparing for comments and succession news from legendary investor Warren Buffet, a big investor in Apple, at the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) on Saturday.
The April employment report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET, amid expectations that the data will show the continued strength of the U.S. economy. The surprising resilience of the economy has complicated the case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as inflation remains high. The U.S. is expected to have created 240,000 jobs last month, a slowing from the 303,000 additions in March, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal, although that is well above the around 177,000-additions per month average before the pandemic. A continued tight jobs market means the Fed has less need to stimulate the economy with lower interest rates. Fed watchers will also keep a close eye on wage growth data today, since Fed officials have expressed concerns about wage growth fueling inflation. The Fed Wednesday kept interest rates steady at a 23-year high Wednesday, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell dismissing hikes, but officials have consistently said they want to see inflation coming down before embarking on easing rates.
Amgen (AMGN) shares surged almost 14% in premarket trading after the biopharmaceutical giant posted quarterly earnings that came in ahead of Wall Street expectations and provided a positive update about trials of its injectable weight-loss drug MariTide. The company announced it would give up pursuit of an oral weight-loss pill as it focuses on MariTide. Companies such as Danish drugs giant Novo Nordisk (NVO), which makes Ozempic and Wegovy, and Eli Lilly (LLY), manufacturer of Mounjaro, have seen their valuations surge on the back of buoyant demand for their weight-loss drugs. Following the news from Amgen about MariTide, shares of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly were down more than 2% in premarket trading.
Shares in global cloud services provider Cloudflare (NET) fell more than 13% in premarket trading after the company issued a soft current-quarter sales outlook that overshadowed quarterly results that came in ahead of Wall Street expectations. The company has been wrestling with enterprise customers tightening their budgets amid an uncertain macroeconomic outlook while also facing intense competition from cybersecurity giants Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and CrowdStrike (CRWD) that offer competitively priced unified solutions for managing multiple applications and websites.
Japan’s Sony Group (SONY) and private-equity firm Apollo Global Management have submitted an all-cash $26 billion offer for Paramount Global (PARA), according to The Wall Street Journal. The latest twist in the bidding battle for Paramount, which earlier this week ousted its CEO Bob Bakish, comes as the media giant continues exclusive merger talks with Skydance Media, a production company led by David Ellison. A number of shareholders have protested the Skydance offer, which they said gave controlling shareholder Shari Redstone a sweetheart deal for her stake in National Amusements, the company through which she controls Paramount. Paramount shares were little changed in premarket trading.
